Mie Goreng (Fried Noodles)

Variations

• How it differs from nasi goreng: the seasoning is essentially the same and only the base changes — but that changes the method. Rice goes in already dry, usually a day old; noodles keep taking up water after boiling, so they have to be undercooked and oiled first. Indonesian stalls sell both side by side, usually from the same bumbu.
• Mie Aceh: the Sumatran version, with curry spices, redder and thicker, sometimes left slightly soupy. It uses fat noodles and often crab or mutton.
• Javanese mie goreng: more kecap manis, so much sweeter and darker, fried one plate at a time over a charcoal brazier at a street stall.
• Instant mi goreng: the packet noodle that took the name around the world is named after this dish, which is why using instant noodle cakes at home is not the odd choice it sounds.
• Malaysian and Singaporean mee goreng: sold under the same name but with stronger Chinese influence — more oyster sauce and soy, less kecap manis. It shares a table with laksa and roti canai.
• The other fried noodles: pad thai leans on tamarind for sourness, pad see ew on soy and wide noodles, chow mein on oil and wok heat, yakisoba on a Worcestershire-style sauce. Mie goreng's territory is sweetness.
• What comes with it: prawn crackers and cucumber almost always, and a few skewers of satay makes it a street-stall meal. It also sits well beside gado-gado.

Tips

• Boil the noodles a minute short. They get two more minutes in the wok and keep softening on the plate as they absorb sauce. Cooked to time, they are already past it by the time you eat (cooking noodles).
• Rinse them, then oil them. Cold water washes off the surface starch so they do not weld together in the wok, and oil films each strand so the sauce coats evenly. Skip both and you get one lump.
• Fry the bumbu until the oil separates. Blended spices stirred straight in leave a raw edge. The signal is the water cooking off and clear oil starting to run at the sides, and nearly every Indonesian stir-fry passes through this step (blooming spices).
• Candlenuts are there for body. Kemiri contribute texture more than flavour; ground, they thicken the paste so it clings to the noodles. Macadamia or cashew does the same job. Do not eat them raw — they always get cooked.
• Kecap manis is the identity of the dish. Indonesian soy sauce thickened with palm sugar, it supplies the colour and the sweetness at once. Without it, three parts soy dissolved with two of dark brown sugar substitutes, though never as thickly (soy sauce, what sugar does).
• Pour the sauce down the side of the wok. Over the noodles it just wets them; on hot steel it caramelises for a second and the smell changes. This is common to all wok noodles (heat control).
• Do not fill the wok. Two portions at a time. Overloaded, the temperature drops, it steams instead of frying, and water from the noodles pools in the base.
• Fold, do not stir. Lift from underneath with tongs and turn them over. A spatula breaks the strands, and broken noodles take up more sauce and turn to porridge.
• Liquid in the wok means it is not finished. The base should be dry and every strand evenly coloured. Plated wet, the noodles absorb the rest on the plate.
• Be generous with the fried shallots. Bawang goreng is not a garnish; it is the last layer of aroma. Shop-bought is fine, and home-fried wants thin slices taken slowly at a low temperature (deep-frying).
• Keep the fried egg soft. Breaking the yolk into the noodles is the Indonesian way to eat it, and a hard yolk has no part to play (cooking eggs).
• Serve it at once. Five minutes after the wok it is a different dish. Reheat leftovers with a splash of water over high heat, briefly (reviving leftovers).